1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to animal training, and more particularly, to an empty cartridge removing device of a dummy launcher for animal training.
2. Description of Related Art
Hunting is actively pursued by millions of Americans every year. Recent government data shows that more than 14 million people actively hunt a variety of game animals and spend more than 20 billion dollars. There are over three million migratory bird (duck, geese, dove) hunters who collectively spend approximately 1.3 billion dollars on equipment, ammunition, decoys, and other hunting-related expenses of which more than 120 million dollars is spent on hunting dogs as well as associated expenses.
Migratory bird hunters are often assigned a daily quota. The quota is designed, in part, to ensure a species is not over hunted, thus helping to maintain future populations. A hunter, therefore, is interested in retrieving every downed bird. Consequently, many migratory bird hunters use dogs to retrieve downed birds on both land and water. Before dogs can be used to retrieve the bird, they must be trained to locate and return the bird when so commanded. The dog must be conditioned to ignore the explosive report of the muzzle blast and to wait for the hunter's command to retrieve the game. The large caliber shotguns normally used in hunting migratory birds have loud muzzle blasts that, without training, distracts the dog. The dog could be trained during actual hunting but this creates a potentially dangerous environment for the dog when other hunters are in the area. A safe way to train the dog is through simulated hunting wherein a device is used to create a loud noise while simultaneously throwing a dummy for retrieval. To meet this need, dummy launching devices were conceived to reproduce the muzzle blast and to propel a dummy device for retrieval.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the construction of a conventional dummy launcher. As shown, the conventional dummy launcher is provided with a firing assembly 100 and a fixed assembly 200. In the structure of the firing assembly 100, a body 110 is tapered from a larger upper portion thereof to a smaller lower portion thereof, the body 110 having a fixed piece 111 on the top end thereof, a housing 112 inside of the body 110 and a groove 114 formed on the interior surface of the lower end thereof, and a locking projection 113 formed by the groove 114. A mounting hole 115 is provided to be passed through the top portion of the housing 112, and a support protrusion 116 is disposed on the top surface of the body 110, having a support groove 116a formed at the lower portion thereof. At one side of the support protrusion 116, a support piece 117 through which a support aperture 117a is provided, and at the other side thereof, a fixed groove 118 is formed inside the fixed piece 111. A firing pin 120 is mounted into the housing 112 in such a manner as to protrude through the mounting hole 115. Firing pin 120 has a fixed plate 121 formed thereon and a spring 130 mounted into the housing 112 for elastically supporting the firing pin 120. A support plate 140 is provided to house the end portion of the firing pin 120 in the housing 112 in such a manner as to come in close contact with the locking projection 113 for securing the spring 130 to the body 110. A locking ring 150 is mounted in the groove 114 of the body 110 for securing the support plate 140. A rubber plate 160 is adapted to come in close contact with the bottom surface of the body 110 in such a manner as to absorb the impact of the lower end of the firing pin 120. A pulling member 170 is adapted to receive the lower end of firing pin 120 protruding from the lower portion of the rubber plate 160 therein, and having an O-ring 180 for rigidly fixing the lower end of firing pin 120 to pulling member 170.
The structure of the fixed assembly 200 includes a fixed member 210, a barrel 220, and a locking arm 230. Fixed member 210 is formed with a coupling hole 211 threaded internally to receive a threaded portion of barrel 220. Barrel 220 has a passageway 221 passed through the interior thereof, and a rubber ring 222 formed at the outer end of barrel 220. A housing groove 212 is formed around the interior of fixed member 210 to couple with support protrusion 116 on body 110. A first fixed pin 240 is passed through first fixed aperture 213 and support aperture 117a to moveably attach fixed member 210 to body 110.
Locking arm 230 is moveably attached to fixed member 210 by a second fixed pin 250 inserted into second fixed aperture 214 and rotary hole 231. In the conventional dummy launcher for animal training, when the blank cartridge is fired it expands, under pressure, to the inside diameter of the coupling hole of the barrel forming a very tight compression fitting, and typically requires the use of separate tools to remove the blank cartridge. Using such a tool may be cumbersome and may cause difficulties if the tool is lost while out in a field launching dummies. What is needed, therefore, is a dummy launcher that facilitates removing the blank cartridge casing.